Arctic Circle 1942–44 Gebirgsjäger VERSUS Soviet Sailor David Greentree Arctic Circle 1942–44 C Gebirgsjäger O M B A T Soviet Sailor David Greentree INTRODUCTION 4 THE OPPOSING SIDES 8 Origins and doctrine • Recruitment, logistics and morale • Weapons, training and tactics • Command, control and communications MOTOVSKIY BAY 31 28 April–13 May 1942 LIINAKHAMARI 46 12–13 October 1944 NIKEL (KOLOSJOKI) 59 18–22 October 1944 ANALYSIS 71 AFTERMATH 75 UNIT ORGANIZATIONS 77 BIBLIOGRAPHY 79 INDEX 80 Introduction The Laplanders describe how God made the world and from what remained he then made the northern Arctic. The area was and is one of the most desolate in the world and in 1941, Generalleutnant (later Generaloberst) Eduard Dietl, the commander of German forces in the region, stated that it was not supportive of military operations. Petsamo, near the Barents coast and 320km north of the Arctic Circle, was the main settlement and was ceded to the Soviet Union by Finland following the Winter War (1939–40). Here, during the brief summer when for 50 days the mean temperature was over 10°C, the Gulf Stream permitted lush summer vegetation with some trees and bushes; further east vegetation was sparse, however, and boulder-strewn hills and lakes abounded. The winter extended from October to May and although the temperature was milder than in southern Lapland, the low was still -25°C. A 30m rope was carried Even so, Hitler – who above all others stressed the economic imperatives of by Gebirgsjäger and three grand strategy – was adamant that a ground offensive to capture Murmansk men could be attached as and/or sever the railway line to the south should be attempted in order to stop necessary. Cliffs would be scaled to gain a tactical advantage and enable an attack from a seemingly impassable direction. Belaying (when the rope was secured around a secure point) was taught in order to limit the distance a man might fall if he lost his footing. The ice axe was used as a support for walking and could also be used as a good belay, particularly on ice and snow. Here, a German postcard shows the specialist equipment the Gebirgsjäger carried. (Author’s Collection) 4 For the Soviet forces, transport to the shore by fast motor torpedo boats was common. As there were no specialized assault landing craft or ships, minor assault units were invariably landed at night and forward detachments of a major assault were ashore by dawn. Various vessels were used and their different speeds and capabilities could hamper coordination. During the landing of the 12th Naval Infantry Brigade in the early hours of 28 April 1942, small warships were employed, including 42 patrol boats and minesweepers, one destroyer and two escorts. (Photo by: military supplies reaching the Soviet Union from Britain by sea. Murmansk, Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images) an ice-free port capable of receiving Allied aid throughout the year, was only 90km from the Finnish border and seemingly vulnerable. The soldiers sent on this mission would be those who had made such an impact during the invasion of Norway in early 1940 – specialist mountain troops called Gebirgsjäger. Mountain divisions were better able than infantry divisions to cope with the challenges the region presented because the Gebirgsjäger were not reliant on motor vehicles, which had limited value in the region because of the lack of roads; instead, the mountain specialists had plenty of pack mules and horses that could transport specially designed guns and equipment. Moreover, because their training emphasized operating in harsh climates, the Gebirgsjäger were more likely to possess the physical and mental toughness required to cope with such an unforgiving environment. Certain Soviet troops that opposed them in the northern Arctic had similar qualities. In all sectors of the front where ports and naval bases existed – the Baltic, Black and Barents seas – the Soviet Navy organized a variety of units from naval personnel to fight alongside the Red Army. In total, 389,975 sailors would serve on land, and not only on the coast but also in the interior. By the end of 1941, the majority of sailors that would fight as ground forces were organized in either Morskaya Pekhota (naval infantry) or Morskaya Strelkovaya (naval rifle) brigades. The main difference lay in the purpose of these formations. While naval infantry brigades were intended primarily for combat operations in maritime sectors, mainly in amphibious assault operations, naval rifle brigades were created for combat on the land front. The purpose of these formations also predetermined differences in their manning. Naval infantry brigades were composed only of seamen, while in naval rifle brigades the proportion of seamen did not exceed 50–60% of all personnel. (Kamalov 1966: 20) In 1941–42 Soviet naval units would win their reputation not only through their defence of ports and cities, but in tactical and operational- 5 Varanger Fjord Operations in the northern Arctic, 1942 and 1944 RYBACHIY 1 April 1942: Elements of the recently arrived 6. Gebirgs- 8 0330hrs, 10 October 1944: The 12th Naval Infantry PENINSULA Division occupy defensive winter positions prepared after the Brigade attacks German defences on the Musta hills. Kirkenes Germans pushed across the Litsa River in 1941. SREDNYI PENINSULA 9 0630hrs, 12 October 1944: Barchenko-Emel’ianov attacks HIGHWAY 50 2 Late April 1942: The Soviets launch a spring offensive, the gun batteries on Cape Krestovyi. Senior Lieutenant Viktor Tarnet Liinakhamari including on 28 April an amphibious assault by the 12th Naval Leonov’s men capture the anti-aircraft guns of 3./gemFlaKAbt 302, NORWAY III Kutovaya Infantry Brigade on the south shore of Motovskiy Bay. The but the heavy guns of 1./HKAA 773 remain in German hands. XXX 388 Cape Mogil’nyi Northern Fleet’s scout detachment lands at Cape Mogil’nyi and XIX X Petsamo 2 12 moves inland to Hill 415.3. Meanwhile, on the Litsa River the 10 1200hrs, 12 October 1944: The 99th Rifle Corps captures XX RUSSIAN Titovka Motovskiy Bay Soviet ground offensive soon stalls. The 152nd Rifle Division Luostari and fends off counter-attacks from 163. Infanterie- ARCTIC 2 ROAD 3 5 Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay OCEAN arrives too late to make a difference. Division that moved up from central Finland on 10 October. NIKEL ROAD HIGHWAY XX 4 XX Luostari 6 14 3 1 May 1942: Having advanced 15–18km inland, the 11 2310hrs, 12 October 1944: Major I.A. Timofeev’s Nikel 1 1w2otrhs eNnainvagl wInefaanthtreyr, Bbruigt aadlseo i sb efocracuesde t toh set oGpe,r mina pnasr ta dreu efo trom tihneg ciso cmappotusirteed b aantdta alito mn bidedgainy so tno 1 l3a nOdc atot bLeiirn aa kchoaumntaerri-. aTthtaec pko bryt FINLAND CLhaakper5 X 10 G2ds XX 72 X 14 XXXX various units from 6. Gebirgs-Division into battle groups. I./GJR 143 is repelled. X XX 152 E4le m4e nMtsa oyf 129. 4G2e:b Mirgasjo-Dr iHvieslimonu tinh rReasiethrveel ,a trhee a clsoom bmroaungdhetr uopf . B1r2i gaEdaer,l byl oecvkeinngin tgh,e 1 T3a rOncett oRboeard ,1 a9n4d4 :t hTeh e7 07t2hn dN aNvaavla Rl iRfliefl e Petsamo River Titovka River 6 Ura River Poliarnyi IHI.i/lGl 7J0R p1r4io3r, tloa uannc haettsa chkis o bna Httillel 1g7ro2u.3p tihne a n seuxctc deasys.ful attack on Balrliogwadineg, dtheefe Gndeirnmga hnesi gtoh trse ttroe atht.e south, are pushed aside, Litsa River N USSR 5 13 May 1942: A Soviet re-embarkation begins as German 13 Early morning, 15 October 1944: With Soviet forces attacks from multiple battle groups have pushed the naval pressing in from the north and south, Petsamo is captured. 0 20 miles infantry towards the coast. 0 20km Murmansk 14 Evening, 18 October 1944: The 127th Light Rifle Corps begins 6 7 October 1944: An offensive to recapture Petsamo and another enveloping manoeuvre across the tundra heading for Nikel. drive the Germans into Norway begins. The 126th and 127th Light Rifle corps are tasked with a wide enveloping manoeuvre 15 Mid-morning, 21 October 1944: I./GJR 137 attacks and across the tundra. defeats the 3rd Battalion, 70th Naval Rifle Brigade, which is astride the Nikel Road, allowing III./GJR 137 to escape. 7 2330hrs, 9 October 1944: The 63rd Naval Infantry Brigade and Captain I.P. Barchenko-Emel’ianov’s scouts land on 16 Early morning, 22 October 1944: Nikel is captured by the south shore of Malaya Volokovaya Inlet. the Soviets. 2. Gebirgs-Division retreats south pursued by the 31st Rifle Corps. sized amphibious landings that struck at the flank of the advancing Axis forces. During the course of the war, 113 amphibious assaults were carried out in which over 330,000 personnel were landed, as well as 46 major reconnaissance operations. Landings were aimed at the enemy’s rear and flanks, with the intention of distracting enemy forces, foiling his offensive operations and giving time for ground units to regroup. Later in the war the Soviet naval units helped breach Axis defences on the maritime flank, seized bridgeheads for offensive operations and captured enemy ports and bases. By 1944, especially in the northern Arctic, naval rifle brigades were also used for deep outflanking marches, across difficult terrain dominated by rocky hills and interspersed with ravines and swampy depressions, in order to sit astride German lines of communication. Such operations shared many attributes with amphibious landings; both were hazardous and fraught with difficulty. 6 Varanger Fjord RYBACHIY PENINSULA Kirkenes SREDNYI PENINSULA HIGHWAY 50 Tarnet Liinakhamari NORWAY III Kutovaya XXX 388 Cape Mogil’nyi XIX X Petsamo 2 12 XX RUSSIAN Titovka Motovskiy Bay ARCTIC 2 ROAD 3 5 Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay OCEAN NIKEL ROAD HIGHWAY XX 4 XX Luostari 6 14 Nikel 1 X XXXX FINLAND CLhaakper5 X 10 G2ds XX 72 14 XX X 152 Petsamo River Titovka River 6 Ura River Poliarnyi Litsa River N USSR 0 20 miles 0 20km Murmansk Varanger Fjord 0 20 miles 0 20km SREDNYI N PENINSULA Kirkenes XX 7 NORWAY NDR RYBACHIY HIGHWAY 50 Tarnet 11 PENINSULA XXX Liinakhamari 8 XX XIX 9 Van der Kutovaya XX TARNET Hoop Cape Mogil’nyi 163 ROAD 13 12 Petsamo SPEER ROADTitovka X Cape Pikshuev RUSSIAN XX 388 Motovskiy Bay ARCTIC ROAD Bolshaya Zapadnaya Litsa Bay 10 OCEAN 6 HIGHWAY XXX NIKEL ROAD Luostari XXX Pigarevich 15 1N6ikel 14 2 XX LANWEG 131 XXXX Lake 14 FINLAND Petsamo Rive6r 126 XXX99 XXXCha3pr1 XXX Ura River Poliarnyi XXX Titovka River 127 Litsa River USSR Murmansk 7 The Opposing Sides ORIGINS AND DOCTRINE Soviet Russia formed its first naval infantry units in 1705, but it was during the October Revolution and the ensuing Russian Civil War (1917–22) that such troops achieved national recognition, only to be disbanded at the end of hostilities. They did not reappear until July 1939, and in 1940 were designated the 1st Naval Infantry Brigade. The Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 prompted rapid expansion. Many naval bases were soon threatened by enemy ground forces, and Soviet base personnel as well as those not manning ships were hastily organized into an array of different units to defend their approaches, or sent to Red Army units as reinforcements. The Northern Fleet, which was responsible for the Barents Sea, hastily formed the 122nd, 125th and 126th Naval Infantry regiments and the 17th and 18th Naval Infantry battalions and also replenished units of the Northern Defensive Region (NDR). Of the 21 naval infantry brigades (including the 1st) that would eventually be recruited, the Northern Fleet formed just one – the 12th Naval Infantry Brigade – because the fleet had plenty of ships to crew. The Baltic Fleet would form ten brigades (many used in the defence of Leningrad and the Finnish border in Karelia, with the 3rd Naval Infantry Brigade moving to the northern Arctic in September 1944), the Pacific Fleet one and the Black Sea Fleet eight (in 1941, three naval regiments defended Odessa and in 1942 four naval infantry brigades, three regiments and several separate battalions defended Sevastopol). A naval infantry brigade usually comprised four to six battalions, one or two artillery battalions, mortar units and service units. The 12th Naval Infantry Brigade was recruited in September 1941 with three battalions and more followed: in October the 4th and 5th, by the end of 1941 the 6th and in early 8 1942, unusually, the 7th. Because no large landing ships were available, the Early in the war, the Soviets battalions had no weapons more substantial than 82mm mortars or 45mm made tactical amphibious assaults to slow the enemy guns. By June 1943, two battalions were permanently handed to the NDR advance and enable ground and the brigade was reorganized into four infantry battalions (each with three troops to hold their lines; the infantry companies, a machine-gun company and a mortar company with 12 immediate requirements of a 120mm mortars), an artillery battalion (12 76mm guns), an anti-tank battalion situation and the importance of achieving surprise (12 45mm guns), a signals battalion (two companies), an SMG company and frequently led to the hasty a reconnaissance company. During a major landing, naval infantry brigades dispatch of landing forces, frequently went ashore jointly with ground troops and were in the first echelon. however. In the Baltic Sea When operating independently, they usually landed at two or three points and in particular, many small- scale landings were made (depending on the terrain and the enemy’s defences) on a frontage 800–1,000m that lacked preparation and wide in two echelons, an artillery group and reserves. training. Here, a party of naval On 18 October 1941, a decree announced the establishment of 25 naval infantry lands somewhere rifle brigades; an additional eight would be established later. They were not on the Baltic coast in 1941. (Photo by: Sovfoto/UIG via formed within the composition of the operating fleets and flotillas, but Getty Images) far away from the fronts (for example, in the Urals and in Siberia). Many comprised personnel from the Pacific and Black Sea fleets. Their three rifle battalions (each with three rifle companies and a machine-gun company) lacked a mortar company; however, at brigade level there was a mortar battalion (16 82mm and eight 120mm mortars), an anti-tank battalion (12 57mm guns) and an artillery battalion (12 76mm guns). In July 1942 the Northern Fleet was made responsible for defending the Srednyi Isthmus in the northern Arctic. Some 5,200m wide, the isthmus defended the approach to the larger Rybachiy Peninsula, which was on the flank of the approach to Murmansk, and would be permanently defended by a naval brigade reinforced by a Red Army machine-gun battalion and an artillery regiment. The 23rd Fortified Area, 104th Artillery Regiment, 12th and 63rd Naval Infantry brigades, 254th Naval Rifle Brigade, 347th, 348th and 349th Separate Machine Gun battalions and two artillery battalions all operated within the NDR, commanded by General-Lieutenant S.I. Kabanov. 9 Soviet naval infantryman 4 2 1 6 3 This plate depicts a naval infantryman from a composite battalion that was hurriedly put together to carry out an amphibious landing to capture Liinakhamari on the night of 12/13 October 1944. He was transported to the port by one of the small motor boats that had to evade detection by German shore batteries and disembark directly onto landing piers. As he went ashore, some trepidation mixed with surprise at his unexpected assignment combined to test his training; that morning he would have had little 10 time to prepare defences to repel a counter-attack.